Hello, all. My church is having a bake sale in about a month to support our children's ministry. I will be one of the main bakers, which I don't mind because I love to bake. I have a list of ideas I've brainstormed for what I'd possibly like to bake. The issue I need help resolving is what can be baked several days ahead, one or two days ahead, the day before, etc. I have three young kiddos I homeschool and so my time is limited in that I can't just take two days and bake.
So what I know I will bake is: quick breads (pumpkin, zucchini, banana nut), yeast breads (white, wheat, dinner rolls), several types of 9" pies (and the same types in 5" individual pies), several kinds of cookies, a chiffon cake, muffins, and possibly cupcakes. The kids want to make a few things, too like caramel corn, puppy chow, dipped pretzel sticks. I know, it's a lot, but the issue isn't how many things I'm baking. The questions I have are below:
1) I know I can make the pie crust and freeze it until I need it. Can I do the same with the fillings?
2) Can I mix up the various types of cookies as I have spare time, roll them into balls and freeze them, so they are ready to bake up two days before the sale? Do you know of any type of cookie that cannot be frozen ahead of time like this?
3) I plan to make the yeast breads the day before. I feel this is my best bet as homemade breads tend to spoil faster than store bought. Do you agree?
4) How many days in advance can I assemble and bake the pies? Cakes? Muffins?
Basically, I have been searching for a resource anywhere that says "such and such can be made up to three days in advance" or something like that. I could use some advice and answers. Thanks!
Time for a reality check here.
Most states law what can be made in a home kitchen and sold to the public for public health reason. Restaurants have to meet strict guidelines of food handling and safety. Cooking from home is not much different. Unless of course you and church want to accept the consequences and the liability of violating food laws should anyone become sick from what you make and sell. And trust me, health departments can take a no tolerance approach to violators. In California, they arrested and prosecuted people who were selling tamales and such over a facebook group.
So the first think is look up the cottage food laws in your state. In most cases you will be held to the standards for sanitation and the food restrictions on what you can and cannot sell.
Freezing does not kill microbes. If doughs are contaminated with bacteria during mixing, freezing will only cause the microbes to become dormant. Heat will kill most but all not microbes. Microbes can survive well above the temperatures we bake at. Even though we set the oven to 350°F or higher, we only bake to an internal temperature to 210° or lower. The oven is not a sanitizer.
Baking is a chemical reaction of ingredients to time and temperature. Even though you have two racks in your oven, home ovens are not designed for baking. So the quality of your baked goods will drop considerably if you bake things on both racks. Contrary to popular belief, heat does not rise. Hot air rises. Air cannot penetrate metal. So hot air has to move around whatever is in the way. If something is on the lower rack, the hot air from the heating element in the floor of the oven will mostly stay under it. Anything on the second rack will not bake properly. So don’t think for a minute that you are going to fill your oven and get great product.
Cake: the food laws in most states prohibits the sale of cakes with icings and filling produced in a home kitchen that have a water activity level of 0.85 or above. (See link for explanation of water activity). So that means no fillings that contain any cream or any time of a custard filling. Also fruit fillings from cans or jars should comply with federal fruit preserving standards. Also prohibited for sale from a home kitchen are buttercream frosting, icing, fondant, and/or gum paste that contain eggs, cream, or cream cheese. In other words, if there is even the off chance it needs refrigeration, you cannot make it in a home kitchen and legally sell it to the public. So that limits cake options to commercially produced sleeve fillings and icings made with shortening and powdered sugar icing or no icing. You cannot make an icing or frosting with real butter or margarine as they have a water level of 0.85 or below, so require refrigeration.
Chiffon cake: This is an extremely expensive and time consuming cake to make as it requires 7 eggs per cake, cake flour, a specialty and expensive tube pan to prevent collapsing. Requires extended cooling time upside down, again to prevent collapsing. a baker of one cannot produce an appreciable number of chiffon cakes in a reasonable time, at a reasonable cost.
Explanation of water activity level
https://www.fda.gov/inspections-com...tion-technical-guides/water-activity-aw-foods
Cookies: cookie dough freezers well. You can make cookie dough well in advance and freeze. Drop and sugar cookies baked one or two days in advance hope up well.
Drop cookies: chocolate chip cookies are best frozen in balls. 45 g per cookie is about standard. If you want a large 5” bakery size cookie, 75 g to 80 g per cookie.
Cut out cookies: form dough into a disk. Double wrap it in plastic, then place in a freezer ziplock bag. Burp out the air. Thaw the cookie dough in refrigerator night before rolling it out.
Sliced cookies: form a log. Double wrap in plastic, then place in freezer in ziplock bag. The log will need to warm up for about 15 to 20 minutes before slicing.
Pie: Again, all filling made with cream, custard, cream cheese, require refrigeration are going to be prohibited. Dough dough freezes well. Make ahead, chill overnight. Then roll dough into rounds. Most pie dough recipes out there are incorrect. If you want a professional formula for pie crust, I posted one the other day. See link
Personally I would make hand pies instead of full size or mini pies in a tin. Roll out two sheets of dough. On one sheet use a large cutter to create an impression to size where each pie round/shape will be. Fill center of each with filling. Brush around edge of filling with egg wash. Cover with second sheet taking care not to trap air inside. Press down around filling. Cut out with cutter. Can be made in advance. Use a manageable filling like apple or fresh blueberries. Do not use frozen blueberries as the sugar will cause the berries to macerate. Place on baking sheet and freeze flat. Then when frozen, transfer to a freezer bag. To bake, preheat baking sheet 400°F for at least 20 mins. Place frozen pies on parchment covered baking sheet. Brush with egg wash with 1 tablespoon water. Sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Yeast bread: home baked bread stales very fast because they do not have preservatives. It also takes about 4 hours min per batch: 20 prep and mix; 1 hr bulk rise; 20 min shaping; 1 hour proofing; 45 min to 1 hr baking. Realistically, you cannot bake much yeast bread from home period. And the day before a bake sale you are going to have so much going on it’s illogical to add the most time consuming of product to your schedule.
I don’t mean to sound negative, but you need a reality check if you expect to be successful.
You need a realistic list of baked goods, before a realistic bake schedule can be made. Right now your list is pie in the sky silly that only a professional shop with a slew of well trained employees can crank out.
scroll down for pie crust recipe
https://www.baking-forums.com/threads/hellllooo-from-a-newbie.6215/#post-42733
